1. Technical Field
The field of the currently claimed embodiments of this invention relates to ultrasound systems, and more particularly to a robotic assisted ultrasound system.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Ultrasound machines are relatively inexpensive, are portable, and more importantly, do not produce ionizing radiation. The ultrasound penetration depth typically ranges up to 15 cm. The thicker the tissue, the more attenuation is caused, and consequently, the noisier are the images that are obtained. This is why ultrasound imaging cannot be used for thick tissues or obese patients. One of the techniques to overcome this limitation is called transmission ultrasound or ultrasound tomography. In this technique, unlike the conventional method in which both the transmitter and receiver are placed at the same location, one transducer is used as the transmitter and one is used as the receiver, with the imaged tissue placed in the middle. Therefore, the penetration depth is doubled. Reference [1], for instance, proposes an ultrasound computed tomography prototype where a tank of water with many identical transducers in the wall of the tank is considered for acquiring tomographic imaging. Reference [2] has covered many of such systems. Even though promising results have been reported using the ultrasound transmission tomography systems, more development is needed in this field to enhance the spatial resolution and speed up the process [2]. Furthermore, requiring the scanned area to be inside a water tank is inconvenient and limits the possible areas that can be scanned. In addition, using vast number of transducers instead of the existing ultrasonic imaging systems to enable this technology is another disadvantage. As a result, this technique has not gained significant attention so far. Accordingly, there remains a need for improved ultrasound systems, including, but not limited to, improved ultrasound tomography systems.